Cleveland Schools CEO finalists to interview with Mayor Frank Jackson

View full sizeLisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer Cleveland schoolchildren raise their hands to answer a question.

The Cleveland school board, interim CEO Peter Raskind and Mayor Frank Jackson will interview the three finalists vying to become the district's chief executive officer on May 31. The board hopes to announce its choice shortly after that.

Here is a brief look at the profiles of the three finalists and a brief overview of the CEO search. For more Plain Dealer news about the Cleveland Municipal School District, visit cleveland.com/education.

Among other professional experience: Worked in the administration of the Kansas City and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., school districts.

Personal: Learned to play golf to have time with her husband and three sons, all three of whom attended Lorain schools.

William Bridgeford, Lowell SunLowell, Mass., Supt. Chris Scott, a finalist to head the Cleveland school district, meets with high school students while touring the culinary arts program at Lowell High School.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland schools Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders said goodbye and thank you today to central office employees. He also introduced them to the banker who will serve as his interim replacement.

"People are so anxious to know what I'm doing," said Sanders, whose mid-December retirement announcement came as a surprise. "Tomorrow, I'm sleeping in."

Sanders, CEO since July 2006, left employees with some good news, saying preliminary indications are that the district's 54 percent graduation rate will increase, perhaps by double digits, when new state report cards are released later this year. He also predicted the schools will achieve a "continuous improvement" rating for a second year in a row.

Interim CEO Peter Raskind has been asked to stabilize the financially troubled district before a new chief executive is selected, probably in June. He stipulated that his salary be just $1. Read More

Cleveland residents have long list of qualities they want in new schools superintendent

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The findings are scant and preliminary, but early indications are that people want the next leader of the Cleveland schools to come with classroom experience, a feel for the community and ability to bridge differences in students and families.

A crowd of about 75 turned out Thursday for the first of three public meetings aimed at finding out what type of chief executive officer should succeed Eugene Sanders, who retired Feb. 1.

Many at the West Side's Michael Zone Recreation Center sit on a 28-member committee that Mayor Frank Jackson assembled to draft a profile, but they were just there to listen. Jackson, who presided, pressed others to offer their thoughts.

View full sizeGus Chan, Plain Dealer fileLee Fisher, above, the former lieutenant governor who lost his race for the U.S. Senate in November, is a candidate to become superintendent of Cleveland schools.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Former Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Roderick Chu, ex-chancellor of Ohio's higher-education system, are among 126 applicants seeking to be the Cleveland schools' next chief executive.

Also on the list is LaVonne Sheffield, a top aide to Michael White when he was Cleveland's mayor. Sheffield is resigning as superintendent of the Rockford, Ill., schools amid criticism over layoffs and school closings.

The Cleveland schools this week released the names and other information on would-be successors for Eugene Sanders, who retired Feb. 1. Consultants and a screening committee will quickly winnow the list so the school board and Mayor Frank Jackson can install a new CEO by June. Read More

Cleveland schools committee whittles CEO search to three

View full sizeMarvin Fong, Plain Dealer fileCleveland State University President Ronald Berkman co-chairs a search committee looking for the next CEO of the Cleveland schools.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland schools' search for a new chief executive officer has narrowed to three candidates.

The selections came after two days of video interviews. Others in the field included two internal candidates -- Chief of Staff Christine Fowler-Mack and Chief Academic Officer Eric Gordon -- Des Moines, Iowa, Chief Academic Officer Michael Munoz and Patrick Cooper, a former superintendent who heads the Early Childhood and Family Learning Foundation in New Orleans.

Committee members seemed to like that Scott, Atkinson and Taylor are sitting superintendents, said Cleveland State University President Ronald Berkman, who co-chairs the panel with former school board member Arnold Pinkney. Read More

Peter Raskind reflects on service as Cleveland schools' interim CEO

View full sizeJoshua Gunter, Plain Dealer fileCleveland schools interim CEO Peter Raskind, shown in a file photo, says the district needs a clear vision for what form the schools should take in five to 10 years.

Mayfield Heights -- Peter Raskind is winding up his run as interim chief executive of the Cleveland schools, but it would be a mistake to say he is winding down.

Raskind, pressed into service after Eugene Sanders retired Feb. 1, has been more than a caretaker. He closed seven schools, engineered the layoffs of nearly 900 employees, canceled management perks and slashed spending by $75 million, enough to keep the district's head above water for at least two years.

Speaking Wednesday at a Corporate Club Luncheon, Raskind said his remaining agenda includes reviewing policies for paying employees for unused vacation and sick leave when they retire. Nearly 270 employees have collected almost $5 million this fiscal year, The Plain Dealer reported Monday. Read More

PD filePeter Raskind helped get the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority back on an even keel. The city schools are in deeper water, though.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- One thing Peter Raskind won't do as interim head of the Cleveland schools is make them worse.

It's tough to foul up a system that's about to run out of money and already owns one of the nation's worst graduation rates.

But without some help, another thing Raskind won't do for the schools is make them a whole lot better.

Raskind's appointment was an inspired choice by Mayor Frank Jackson and his handpicked school board. In his six-month stint as interim head of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, Raskind won rave reviews for halting the waste of tax dollars and instituting sound management practices.

It's a safe bet that Raskind, who assumed his new job last week, will be appalled by the school district's long-standing management practices and spending policies. Because he's a talented guy with a supportive school board and mayor, Raskind should be able to clean up some of the mess he's waded into.

But no one should expect Raskind to make significant progress in improving student performance. That won't happen until this community figures out a way to relieve children from the tragic amount of social baggage they drag to school with them each morning. And it won't happen until the state expands school choice and gives districts like Cleveland more flexibility in dealing with underperforming employees. Read More

Next Cleveland schools CEO deal should include some restraint: editorial

View full sizeLynn Ischay, PD fileEugene Sanders, announcing his retirement as CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan School District in December.

Clevelanders can disagree on whether the next chief of the city's public schools should be a business leader or an educator, someone who is solidly behind Cleveland's transformation plan or someone who wants to tweak it.

But there should be full agreement that a district facing a $47.5 million deficit this school year and budget cuts from the state should not give the next schools chief the golden platter of perks enjoyed by just-departed CEO Eugene Sanders and his predecessor, Barbara Byrd-Bennett.

As reported last week by The Plain Dealer's Thomas Ott, Sanders could walk away this month with a bundle, including $110,000 in vacation pay for 100.6 days of unused vacation.

That really rubs salt in the wound, after Sanders' announcement in December that he was retiring in mid-contract and in the midst of his transformation plan's inaugural school year.

The next CEO contract ought to cap the number of vacation carry-over days and end perks that, for many private-sector executives, have gone the way of first-class airline tickets and country club memberships. Read More

Raskind lays out a responsible path for Cleveland schools: editorial

View full sizeLisa DeJong, PD fileRetired teacher Wynne Antonio found the discussion of school closings and teacher layoffs depressing.

Reality bites hard. And the reality at the Cleveland public schools, that last year's school-closure plan did not assuage, is this: This shrinking district still has too many teachers, staff and schools.

That isn't interim CEO Peter Raskind talking, although he took the brunt of the bitter comments at Tuesday night's board meeting after announcing a plan to close seven elementary schools and lay off 835 employees.

That dose of reality comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, which reported recently that Cleveland's population had fallen 17 percent, to 396,815 from 477,472 a decade ago. No wonder 44,000 students are enrolled in buildings with capacity for many more.

So, the painful recovery plan outlined by Raskind, which the Cleveland school board could vote on in early April, makes sense.

Raskind says the $74 million in cutbacks will wipe out deficits projected for 2012 and 2013. The fiscal certainty will be worth the pain. Read More

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